Massachusetts Workers' Compensation Lawyer Blog

In Peabody, Massachusetts, a transfer machine crushed the legs of a worker who was part of a highway repaving project on Route 128 south. According to Phil Jodoin, the resident engineer for MassHighway who was on the scene to oversee the project, the construction accident occurred at 10:30 on Monday evening when the worker was run over by a machine that transfers asphalt dumped by trucks into a paving machine that puts it on the road.

Work stopped temporarily while the work crew waited for a safety officer from the Dracut-based heavy construction company to arrive at the scene of the machinery accident, along with a representative from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

The injured worker was not identified, but the Peabody Deputy fire Chief told the media he was taken by ambulance to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

Machine crushes worker's legs, Salem News, May 27, 2009

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Safety and health violations at a residential construction site in Woburn, Massachusetts have resulted in OSHA issuing $79,000 in proposed fines to a North Reading roofing contractor. After an OSHA inspection discovered employees working on a two-story roof without fall protection and with ladders that did not extend at least a yard above the upper landing surface, the company was issued two willful citations, carrying $56,000 in proposed fines. A willful citation is defined as when a safety violation is committed with indifference to or intentional disregard for employee's health and safety.

In addition to two willful citations, OSHA also issued the roofing contractor 14 serious citations for several scaffold hazards including lack of fall protection, unsecured ladders, lack of head, eye, and face protection for employees exposed to overhead hazards. Those fines amounted to $23,000. OSHA issues serious citations when death or serious physical harm is likely to result from hazards which the employer knew or should have known about.

As OSHA's area director for Middlesex and Essex counties pointed out, "It takes only one slip or misstep to turn a construction site into an accident scene."

The company has 15 business days from the receipt of the citations and proposed penalties to comply, request and participate in an informal conference with the OSHA area director or contest the citations and proposed penalties before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

OSHA proposes $79,000 in Fines For Fall Hazards, EHSToday.com, May 19, 2009

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Following an inspection in response to chlorine gas leak at a North Attleboro, Massachusetts metal refining plant, OSHA has cited a Massachusetts company for 10 alleged serious violations of safety standards. The citations carry $46,500 in proposed fines.

OSHA inspectors found the plant's Process Safety Management (PSM) to be lacking. The PSM is a detailed set of requirements and procedures employers must follow to assess and address potential safety hazards associated with large quantities of hazardous chemicals. The company had not compiled information on the chemicals, technology, and equipment used in the metal purifying process, nor had it performed an initial process hazard analysis. The company also failed to post signs indicating a confined space.

These safety violations resulted in 10 alleged serious citations, which OSHA issues when death or serious physical harm is likely to result from hazards which the employer knew or should have known about. The company has 15 business days from receipt of the citations to respond.

OSHA Proposes More than $46,000 in Fines for Chlorine Gas Leak, OHSonline, May 7, 2009

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A New Bedford-based manufacturer of rubber products has been cited by OSHA for 34 alleged safety and health violations at its plant. An inspection last November found mechanical, electrical, fall, burn and other safety hazards at the plant. The company now faces $44,250 in proposed fines for violating health and safety standards.

Among those hazards identified during OSHA's inspection were locked exits, excess carbon monoxide levels from forklifts, lack of personal protective equipment for welders, untrained forklift operators, and numerous electrical safety issues. Those findings amounted to 31 serious citations and $43.750 in proposed penalties. The company also received three other-than-serious citations for not having an injury and illness log, dust masks, and forklift data plates.

According to OSHA's area director for Boston and southeaster Massachusetts, these issues "need to be addressed effectively and continuously to prevent injuries and illnesses, and ensure the health and safety of the workers at this plant."

The company has 15 business days from receipt of the citations to comply, request a conference with the OSHA area director, or contest the citations and proposed penalties.

Lack of Dust Masks, 33 Other Violations Found at Rubber Products Plant, OHSonline.com, April 28, 2009

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The Boston Globe reports that a North Andover resident is now one of the United States Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) most wanted fugitives. Albania Deleon, 39, ran the largest asbestos removal training school in New England from 2001 to 2007. However, federal officials discovered that Deleon was granting fraudulent certificates stating the bearer had training to safely asbestos.

Officials estimates that Deleon and her assistants gave fraudulent certificates to over 2,500 works, who then removed asbestos from hundreds of schools, churches, homes, libraries, and hospitals across New England through Deleon's staffing agency, Metheun Abatement Staffing.

Because these workers did not receive proper safety training, they have unwittingly exposed themselves to hazardous conditions that could lead to lung cancer and death decades into the future. Many of them did not even know how to wear a respirator and may have exposed their family to the hazardous fibers by unknowingly bringing them home.

Delean sawed off her ankle monitor and fled in March. Law enforcement officials are searching for Deleaon across three countries, vowing to catch her for putting so many workers at risk.

She 'harmed so many. And we will catch her', Boston Globe, May 17, 2009

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On Friday afternoon, a construction accident in downtown Calgary killed a construction worker who was working as a rigger on the 21st floor. Early reports stated that the 27-year-old worker fell 10 storeys, but a Calgary policeman said he was crushed when 1,800 kilograms of building materials slipped out of a crane sling.

The construction worker was pronounced dead at the scene of the crane accident.

Workers who were completing projects nearby said they heard a loud thud and that rain and wind made for difficult and potentially dangerous working conditions. Police that Occupational Health and Safety investigators along with the chief medical examiner are now looking into the construction accident.

Calgary construction worker crushed to death in crane accident, AOL News, May 8, 2009

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Although the US Attorney's Office dropped all 10 charges relating to the 2006 accident that killed a Jamaica Plain woman as she drove through the Big Dig construction project, Modern Continental Corp., the largest Big Dig contractor, still faces 39 federal charges of overbilling and construction defects on the project. The contractor pleaded guilty last week, and its lawyers added that the ceiling collapse was the result of another company supplying the wrong epoxy for ceiling panels.

In December, the epoxy vendor agreed to pay $16 million to Massachusetts and Boston to resolve the criminal charges. According to the Boston Globe, prosecutors were not available for comment.

Modern Continental faces criminal fines up to a half million dollars on each of the 39 counts; however, lawyers noted that the company sought the shelter of the US Bankruptcy Court three days after the criminal charges were filed last summer because they do not have the money to pay the fines.

Big Dig contractor Modern Continental pleads guilty, Boston Globe, May 8, 2009

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A Fall River man who works for the Department of Public Works was critically injured after falling off the back of a truck. According to accident reports, the garbage truck was on its usual pick-up route when the worker fell and hit his head. The workplace accident occurred on Nichols Street in Fall River. The worker is at Charleton Hospital, where police say he is fighting for his life.

The truck accident is under investigation by the Massachusetts State Police truck team and the Fall River Police Department.

Head injuries can be especially serious and can result in permanent, life-altering damage in some cases. Many injured workers are not able to return to work after an accident because of permanently debilitating injuries. The cost of long-term care and the loss of financial support take their toll on the injured worker as well as his or her family.

Worker critical after falling off truck, WPRI.com, May 6, 2009

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In April, an electrical worker was involved in a rooftop accident at Melrose's Oak Grove Village. Police received a 911 call around 11:20am on Tuesday, April 14 reporting a possibly electrocution. Chad O'Clair, the twentysomething worker who was hit with 220 volts, was taken by ambulance to Massachusetts General Hospital for tests.

O'Clair is a resident of North Reading and an employee of the North Reading-based Electrical Dynamics Inc. Fortunately, O'Clair did not lose consciousness and was released from Massachusetts General Hospital later that day.

The construction company responsible for the project says that the cause of the electrical accident remains under investigation.

According to a representative, We’re obviously doing an internal investigation and I believe that OSHA [Occupational Health and Safety Administration] is now at the site and our folks are reviewing it [the accident] with them."

Melrose injured electrical worker, rescued from rooftop earlier today, now released from hospital, WickedLocal.com, April 14, 2009

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